Moving Towards Youth-Specific and Youth-Friendly Mental Health Platform a Case Study for Risk Stratification and Timely Intervention to Mitigate Mental Health Deterioration among Adolescents

Abstract

Adolescents’ mental health issue has become an imperative focus of the youth development. According to WHO (World Health Organization) report, adolescents with mental health issues are more susceptible to social isolation, discrimination, stigma (which can impair their willingness to seek care), academic challenges, risk-taking behaviors, physical ill-health, and human rights abuses. Hence, we need to take efficient, customized, and collective actions to protect adolescents from further deterioration and solve their mental problems in a timely and specific approach. Out research team strives to investigate the antecedent, solution, mechanism for the youth mental health wellbeing. The projects has last two years and keep on collecting more quantitative and qualitative evidence and implications for establishing a universal-design, person-centered, and evidencebased digital therapeutics for youth development towards Post COVID-19 new normal.

Introduction

Mental disorders are one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century. Young people are particularly vulnerable, with more than 75% of adult mental disorders presenting before the age of 25 [1-2] and more than 45% of the total burden of disease among 10–24-year-olds being attributable to mental illness [3]. The high prevalence of mental disorders during adolescence and young adulthood poses a risk to future health and well-being outcomes, precisely because of the timing of their emergence [4-8]. These are chronic disorders in young people, the effects of which can last a lifetime if not addressed appropriately [9-10].

10 to 19-year-olds make about one in six of the population. The adolescent years are special and influential. WHO suggests that adolescents are more susceptible to mental health issues due to physical, emotional, and social changes, such as experiencing poverty, abuse and violence. Adolescents’ health and wellbeing during adolescence and into adulthood depend on safeguarding them from harm, fostering socio-emotional learning and psychological well-being, and guaranteeing access to mental health treatment [11]. The prevalence of mental health issues among 10 to 19-year-olds worldwide is estimated to be 1 in 7 (14%) however the second editions are generally undiagnosed and untreated. Adolescents with mental health issues are more susceptible to social isolation, discrimination, stigma (which can impair their willingness to seek care), academic challenges, risk-taking behaviors, physical ill-health, and human rights abuses.

It is imperative to attend to the needs of adolescents with mental health issues. Adolescents’ mental health depends on avoiding institutionalization and over-medicalization, giving non- pharmacological methods priority, and protecting children’s rights in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights documents.

Discussion

Why Do We Need Digital Platform?

According to data from Hong Kong Hospital Authority Waiting Time for Stable New Case Booking at Specialist Out-patient Clinics, it takes about 41.6 weeks (for average medium time) and 78.4 weeks (for average longest time) to get Psychiatry service. Also, Counseling Center service handles booking only once a week for an hour, and it’s hard to get an appointment. Confiding in person will bring a lot of privacy issues, there will be avoidance, cannot communicate freely.

Hence, we designed Mental Health Services Digital Platform for Hong Kong Adolescents which contains following three aspect.

First of all, digital mental counseling can meet the requirements of contemporary adolescents for the professionalism of psychological counselling. The internet consultation platform provides a more modern way of psychological consultation for contemporary adolescents. The information resources covered by the internet are richer and more comprehensive, and it provides detailed psychological tests for the consultants, which makes psychological consultation more rigorous and detailed, and also makes psychological tests and experimental research more operable.

Secondly, digital mental counseling can meet the requirements of contemporary adolescents for the degree of confidentiality of psychological counselling Traditional psychological counselling generally requires the registration of real identity information, which can easily reveal the privacy of the person concerned and cause secondary harm to the psychology of the person seeking help. In the face of adolescents who are shaping their own values, they require a higher degree of protection for their privacy and dignity, so the Internet has become the first choice for many adolescents, and the use of virtual identity registration for counseling can dispel students’ concerns and open up their hearts, allowing counselors to have a more comprehensive and detailed understanding of the counsellor’s psychological condition and accurate treatment.

Finally, digital counselling can meet the requirements of adolescents for the continuous development of individual psychological needs about adolescents’ mental health education should be continuous, uninterrupted and permanent, the ultimate goal of psychological counseling is to promote the overall development of people. As students, they need to face problems in all aspects of their studies, employment, life and emotions, which require a platform that can guide and monitor the psychological situation at all times to work. The internet psychological counselling platform is a powerful advantage, as students can choose to communicate and consult on the internet anytime and anywhere, and can choose to have professional counselling or vent their emotions and release their stress. The wide coverage of information on the internet can meet the needs, knowledgeable and interesting in one, which makes it easy for students to understand and absorb, to integrate, to change their previous perceptions and to motivate themselves to focus more on their own psychological dynamics. China adheres to the concept of people-oriented, the digital consultation platform as a popular way of mental health education now in line with the requirements of the times, universities to create a network of psychological consultation platform is imperative, each university should pay attention to carry out this work, play a positive role in other areas of the Internet in universities, to promote the work of universities.

What do we do in Digital Platform?

The implementation of the adolescents mental service platform is divided into two main areas: the online section and the offline activities. However, due to the current epidemic, the focus of the project is mainly on the online section, interviews and activities. The online section of the project is mainly in the form of case studies, interviews with adolescents and articles on psychological knowledge: through big data on the internet, social cases of adolescents’ mental health are screened and analyzed, so that information on mental health problems that they may face can be disseminated in advance. We also conduct personal interviews with adolescents on an irregular basis every month, and analyze the mental health conditions and problems of different groups of adolescents in the context of the interviews and surveys, so as to clarify the direction of the content for the promotion of professional knowledge. The public platform is used to collect information on psychological guidance and stress relief according to the common problems of different group’s of adolescents in the month, and to promote psychological knowledge and expertise. The offline activities focus on cooperation with counseling rooms and peer counseling activities, in order to gain a clear and timely understanding of the mental health situation of adolescents and their problems. Counselling and talks were conducted in conjunction with the special situation during the epidemic, which increased the motivation of Hong Kong adolescents to participate in activities, effectively alleviated their negative emotions of anxiety and emptiness caused by staying at home for long periods of time without going out, and helped adolescents maintain a good state of living, learning and mental health. The emergence of new media has greatly influenced the way people perceive, think and value themselves. Moreover, unlike physical health, mental health is more hidden and private, which has led to many adolescents’ not coming forward to talk and seek help when faced with mental health problems. The project runs both online and offline, and is promoted to adolescents in Hong Kong through the platform so that all staff and students can receive psychological knowledge tweets first and connect to psychologyrelated websites anytime, anywhere. This enables adolescents to test their own mental health more easily and privately, and also helps them to deepen their understanding of mental health knowledge and develop a healthy psychological outlook.

Conclusion

Adolescent’s mental health issue became more and more crucial now a days. It is urgent to have mental health service for adolescents who suffering from variable and different mental disorders. But it’s not easy and convenient to get mental service in Hong Kong due to schedule, privacy and cost conditions. Here, we present a digital platform that provides health services with the to deliver quality, private and convenient mental health care for Hong Kong adolescents which can lead fulfilling and contributing lives later in adulthood.

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